J.W. Wells State Park (also known as Wells State Park) is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The park is located in Menominee County on the shore of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

's Green Bay, just south of Cedar River. It is on M-35, roughly midway between

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

and

Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city i ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2002.

History

In 1898, Sam Crawford purchased fifty-three thousand acres of stumpland around Menominee and began logging operations on the hemlock growing among the pine stumps. Five hundred of these acres was still virgin timber, and Crawford intentionally preserved it. John Walter Wells, part owner of the Bird-Wells Lumber Company, later purchase this land. Wells died in 1921, and in 1925 his children donated 335 acres of virgin timber, including 2.5 miles of

shoreline, to the state of Michigan to establish a park. An additional 131 acres which had been purchased by the Menominee County Road Commission was added to create the park. Development of the park began in 1927–28. Trees were planted and stoves, toilets, a well, and play equipment were installed. In 1929 a log bathhouse was constructed. Much of the development in the park was done by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC). In 1933, a two-hundred man camp was established, and over the next 10 years, the CCC developed five distinct areas within the park: the day-use (or picnic) area, the residence area, the group camp area, the campground area, and the trails and trailside shelters area. The CCC undertook a major reforestation project in the park, constructed three miles of foot trails, a parking lot, recreational fields, and sanitary facilities.

Description

The J.W. Wells State Park contains 678 acres, of which the 335 acres of the original donation contains virgin timber. The park can be separated into five distinct sections: the day-use area, the residence area, the group camp area, the campground area, and the trails area. The day-use area contains directional and entrance signs, an informational kiosk, the parking lot, baseball and softball diamonds, combination picnic shelter/toilet building, and pump house. The residence area contains the park superintendent's residence and an icehouse. The group camp area contains the CCC era rustic cabins, the play area, kiosk, and fire ring. The campground area contains entry posts, combination toilet/shower/laundry building, pump house, kiosk, drainage ditch, and pit toilets. The trails area contains the Bayshore Trail (now known as the Cedar Rives Trail) with two shelters, and the Ridgewood Trail with a third shelter. Many of the buildings and structures in these areas were constructed by the CCC using a combination of local materials: limestone, granite, and native timber. Many of the buildings have similar designs aspects, including asymmetrical designs, the use of stone for foundations and walls, multi-pane wood sash windows, exposed log trusses, and wood shingle exteriors and roofs.

Activities and amenities

The state park offers swimming, picnicking, fishing, a 150-site campground and cabins, and seven miles of hiking trails.

References

External links

Wells State Park
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Wells State Park Map
Michigan Department of Natural Resources {{authority control Protected areas of Menominee County, Michigan State parks of Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps in Michigan Protected areas established in 1925 1925 establishments in Michigan IUCN Category III